Afghanistan’s Finance Ministry and the Swiss government on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Kabul that funds raised by its government will be spent on development projects, and in the technical and humanitarian fields in the country in line with the national budget.
 
As part of its commitment to Afghanistan, at the Brussels Summit, Switzerland pledged to provide $35 million in aid to Afghanistan on an annual basis.
 
At the Brussels Summit on Afghanistan in 2016, Switzerland pledged a total amount of $104 million to help Afghanistan meet its challenges facing technical and humanitarian challenges as well as development projects. 
 
Switzerland has provided more than $500 million in aid to Afghanistan over the past 16 years. 
 
“To regulate this in a legal framework and to cooperate on development inside a system and to facilitate our colleagues on the technical level and to help them undertake practical measures, therefore today we will sign this agreement,” Finance Minister Eklil Hakimi said. 
 
“The cooperation started earlier, since the 70s we worked together, and this is also one of the very characteristics of our cooperation. We are here to stay. It’s a long term cooperation,” said Swiss Non-Resident Ambassador to Afghanistan Thomas Kolly said.
 
According to Hakimi, a follow up conference on the commitments made to Afghanistan during the Brussels Summit will be held in Switzerland in November in which sectoral ministers from donor nations will discuss their commitments.